Just Released: Meditative Origami, Zen, and The Art of Murder
by beancounter22765
Summary: Marinette gets an idea of how to deal with Lila from a very unusual source.


It started out so innocently, just a regular email advertisement from one of the American publishers from which Marinette occasionally purchased books about historical fashions. Usually she just deleted them without even opening or reading them if they didn't mention fashion. Actually, she didn't open this one either, but the subject line caught her eye. It read, "Just Released: Meditative Origami, Zen, and The Art of Murder."

Something in Marinette 'clicked' as she read the subject line, a flash of righteous indignation mingled with something much darker as Marinette considered opening the email for the last title listed. Lila had been making the usual nuisance of herself, this time claiming Marinette had stolen her homework. Thankfully, Ms. Mendeleiev pointed out that Marinette hadn't turned in any homework. (Late akuma attacks were the worst.) When Lila tried to spin it that Marinette had simply thrown the homework away, Ms. Mendeleiev pointed out something Marinette was determined to remember as long as she lived.

"You can't prove a negative. Unless you can provide positive proof of what you claim, I cannot act on anything."

As much as Marinette liked and respected Ms. Bustier, Ms. Mendeleiev was her new favorite teacher. She may not be particularly good at science, but for extending the benefit of the doubt, Ms. Mendeleiev earned her undying loyalty.

What Marinette really needed, rather than revenge, was a way to deal with the feelings Lila brought up in her and a means to avoid attracting akumas as her civilian self. She refocused on the subject line of the email. "Meditative origami? That sounds interesting. I think I'll try that." Pulling some paper out of her desk, she started folding a simple box. Then she folded a frog and finally a crane.

After just a few minutes of folding, concentrating only on each step of the process, she felt so much better. "_Well, that does make me feel rather zen, calm and centered. Now I no longer feel the desire to look at 'The Art of Murder.' I'll have to keep some origami paper in my backpack to deal with the stress at school._"

Feeling much better, she decided to go down and see if her parents needed help in the bakery.

"Hey, Maman, would like me to help out at the counter?" Marinette asked.

Sabine smiled and answered, "That would be wonderful. It's quiet right now but I need to run to the store to pick up some things we're running short on. Thank you for offering."

"No problem," Marinette replied.

Just after Sabine left, Marinette's acquaintance, Agnes, entered carrying a steaming beverage and a small folio.

"What can I get for you today, Agnes?" Marinette asked.

"I'd like a pain chocolat, please."

Marinette used the tongs to gently place the pastry on a plate and set it on the counter. "That will be 2.00 euros."

"Here you are," Agnes said, handing Marinette exact change. Settling at her favorite table in the corner, she pulled out a notebook and her Bible.

Since it was between the lunch and dinner rushes, there were no other customers. Marinette decided to see if Agnes wanted to chat. "Hey, Agnes, what are you doing?"

Agnes looked up and smiled. "There's someone at work who has been trying to get me fired. I decided I needed to re-read what the Bible says about dealing with enemies. It has worked for me in the past, so I wanted to have all the information fresh in my mind before I have to encounter that person again."

"I have someone like that in my life," Marinette replied. "She has been making my life miserable. She's a compulsive liar and most people believe everything she says. She threatened to turn all my friends against me and make sure my crush will be her boyfriend. I tried exposing her lies, but she would 'explain' how I misunderstood and then say things in just the 'right' way to make it seem like everything is my fault."

"That sounds a lot like the type of person that I'm dealing with," Agnes replied. "Would you like to know how I intend to deal with my co-worker?"

Marinette hesitated. "I don't know anything about the Bible."

"That doesn't matter," Agnes assured her. "These are basic principles that will work even if you don't have knowledge of the Bible."

"Okay," Marinette said, uncertainly.

Agnes took a sip of her beverage. "First, remember that you can hate the behavior without hating the person. Hating a person can make you bitter and it doesn't affect the other person at all. Some people have described it as drinking poison and hoping the other person gets sick. I know you've told me in the past how much you hate lying. That hate is a good thing because the truth is precious and should be protected."

"That makes sense," Marinette murmured. "But how do I deal with this person who is lying?"

"This may seem counterintuitive, but you need to be kind to them."

"Huh?" Marinette's face screwed up in confusion.

Agnes chuckled. "The Bible says love your enemies and those who spitefully use you. If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. In doing so, you will heap burning coals on their head."

Marinette frowned. "Okay, even this girl does not make me mad enough to put fire on her head."

"That's good to know. What it means is that by being kind to this difficult person, they'll subconsciously feel guilty about their behavior. It will also make the people watching question that person's behavior. They will wonder why someone is mean to someone who is kind to them."

Hesitantly Marinette said, "That actually makes a lot of sense. It's kind of like killing her with kindness."

"Exactly," Agnes replied, smiling.

The bell rang above the door as another customer entered.

"Thanks for the advice, Agnes. Enjoy your pain chocolat," Marinette said.

* * *

The next day, Marinette arrived in class with a small package. To everyone's surprise, she walked up to Lila's desk and laid it down. "Lila, this is for you. It's a wrist pad for your sprained wrist. I stuffed it with rice so you can also use it as a heating pad. You just microwave it for a minute or two. Be careful not to heat it too long or you could burn yourself."

Lila's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "_I wonder what she's up to. Will it explode when I microwave it?" _Plastering on a fake smile, she said, "Oh, thank you. That's so sweet of you." After Marinette left to take her seat, Lila thought, "_Maybe I've won. Maybe she's conceding defeat. Either way, I'm not using this thing. I'll throw it away as soon as I can_."

Just then, Adrien entered the classroom. Lila reached out and grabbed his arm as he was walking past her desk. "Adrien, please sit here next to me. I need your help to take notes because my wrist hurts so much."

Cringing inwardly, Adrien sat down and pulled out his notebook. Lila scooted over until she was practically sitting in his lap. "Lila, please. I need room to be able to take notes." He scooted his chair a foot away from hers.

Lila pouted and moved her chair toward his again, this time leaving a few inches between it and Adrien's. Rather than moving his chair again, he just leaned as far away from her as he could without falling out of his chair.

Marinette watched this from her seat in the back row. "_Can't she see how uncomfortable that makes him? I should…_" She was about to stand up when she remembered the email and her conversation with Agnes. Pulling out a few sheets of paper, she started working, concentrating on each fold. After a few minutes, she felt a lot calmer.

Suddenly Marinette had an idea. On the back of the frog that she just folded, she wrote a Chinese proverb. She took a deep breath and then walked to Lila's desk. "I made this for you, Lila," she said as she handed it to the source of her thus far unceasing torment.

Lila looked at it with disdain, but said, "Oh, thank you. That's cute. What's this writing on the back? It says, 'May you be recognized by people in high places.'"

Marinette shrugged. "It's just a Chinese proverb."

"Oh, okay," Lila replied.

Adrien blinked. He knew this saying was considered to be one of the Chinese curses. They sound like blessings, but they really are curses if you think them through to their logical conclusion. He smiled to himself as he was fairly certain her knew what Marinette was doing. "_That's one way to deal with the problem while taking the high road."_

* * *

After school, Lila was walking home and she was bored out of her mind. "_I need something interesting to do_," she thought. She saw a newsstand just ahead and an idea began taking shape for a way to alleviate that boredom. "_The newest issue of Numero just came in. I'll just spend the afternoon reading that."_ Pulling out her wallet, she remembered that she didn't have any money. _"Oh well, I just help myself anyway."_

Glancing around surreptitiously, Lila picked up a copy Numero and shoved it into her bag. "_No one will know,"_ she smirked to herself.

Four floors up, the window washer watched the Italian ambassador's daughter steal a magazine from the newsstand while the attendant was away. Shaking his head, he wiped his hands and pulled out his phone, dialing the non-emergency police phone number. "Good afternoon. I would like to report a crime," he said.

"What kind of crime?" the desk sergeant inquired.

"Shoplifting."

"When did it happen?"

"Just a few minutes ago. The Italian ambassador's daughter took a magazine from the newsstand without paying. I'm a window washer, so she didn't see that I witnessed the crime."

"Thank you for your report." The desk sergeant paused. "I know you are busy, but when you have a few minutes, please stop by the station and have an officer take your statement."

The window washer nodded, then realized that the sergeant couldn't see him. He replied, "I will do that. Do you need anything further at this time? I need to get back to work."

"No, that's all I need for now. Thank you for your diligence."

"No problem." The window washer put his phone away and returned his attention to the windows.

The desk sergeant called dispatch to send an officer to investigate the reported shoplifting.

* * *

A police officer knocked on the door of the Rossi residence and waited for an answer. When it opened, he said, "Mrs. Rossi, I need to speak to you regarding your daughter. Is she here?"

Mrs. Rossi opened the door and motioned the officer to enter. "Yes, she is. What seems to be the problem, officer?"

"Please call your daughter. I need to speak to her."

Bemused, Mrs. Rossi walked over to the staircase and called, "Lila, please come down." Turning to the officer, she asked, "What is this about?"

Clearing his throat, the office replied, "Your daughter was witnessed stealing a magazine this afternoon."

Lila came down the stairs. "What do you want, Mother?"

Sternly, her mother frowned. "This officer says that you were seen stealing a magazine. Is that true?"

Lila started to tear up. "Marinette forced me to steal a copy of Numero for her. I didn't want to."

The officer gave her a dubious look. "Who is she? The report did not mention anyone else around when the theft occurred. How could she force you to steal anything if she wasn't there?"

"We go to school together at Francois DuPont. Her parents run the bakery over on Rue Gottlieb. She hates me and is always trying to get me in trouble. She said if I didn't steal the magazine for her, she'd tell everyone I was sneaking into the boys' locker room to watch them change clothes for gym."

"Well then, let's head over to the bakery and get to the bottom of this."

The officer drove Mrs. Rossi and Lila to the bakery on Rue Gottlieb. He escorted them inside and addressed Sabine, "Mrs. Dupain Cheng, we need to speak to your daughter, Marinette. Is she here?"

Puzzled, Sabine replied, "She's out making deliveries right now. May I help you?"

The officer stated, "Miss Rossi says that Marinette made her steal a copy of Numero magazine."

Cocking her head, Sabine said, "That makes no sense. Marinette won an on-line subscription in a fashion contest two months ago. It even has special bonus content. The print magazine would be of no use to her."

"She wanted it for the pictures of Adrien," Lila blurted out.

Sabine laughed. "That would be rather difficult. Mr. Agreste doesn't allow Adrien's picture in Numero."

The officer and Mrs. Rossi glared at Lila. To Sabine, the officer said, "Thank you for your time. Sorry to bother you." Then he escorted Mrs. Rossi and Lila out of the bakery.

* * *

"_It's all Marinette's fault that I got in trouble with my mother,_" Lila seethed. "_How did the police even find out about the magazine? No one was around when I took it. Never mind. I need to come up with a way to get her in trouble."_

The classroom was starting to fill when Rose walked up to Lila's desk. "Isn't your birthday next week?" Rose asked.

"Yes, it is," Lila replied. Suddenly she had an idea of how to get back at Marinette, just as the troublemaker herself walked into the classroom. "In fact, Marinette promised to make a special cake for the class to share in celebration."

"Oh, goody," Rose squealed. "Marinette makes the best cakes!" Others around the room had heard what Lila said and were making similar comments.

Marinette looked at the smirk on Lila's face and hurried to her seat in the back row. "_I can't believe she tried to blame me for her petty larceny. To think she had the gall to tell the police it was my fault_." Pulling out some paper, she started folding. Her origami was not very meditative this time, nearly tearing the paper in her frustration. "_Who does she think she is? Telling everyone I 'promised' to make a cake for her birthday. Why would I do something like that? Why waste my time…_" Her thoughts tapered off as she remembered her plan to kill Lila with kindness.

She sucked in a long slow breath, then breathed out just as slowly. "_Okay. I can do this. It can be more for the class than for her anyway. Though, to make it more convincing, I should probably make her a gift as well."_ Marinette looked down at the origami figure in her hand. It was a butterfly. _"That's perfect. I'll make an origami butterfly and write on it 'May all your dreams come true' as well."_

Just as planned, Marinette brought in a cake for the class to share for Lila's birthday. She also made an origami butterfly and attached it to a hairclip. It was made out of beautiful gold and orange paper with the proverb written across the wings.

Everyone exclaimed over the cake and admired the butterfly.

* * *

That night Lila had nightmares. All of them revolved around her being ugly and friendless. All of the people she had lied about knowing were crowding around her screaming, "I don't know who you are. How can you say those things about me?" Lila woke up shaking, covered in sweat.

The next day at school, Lila was completely frazzled. She hadn't been able to sleep so she was in a foul mood.

Alya asked, "Hey, what's wrong? You look beat."

Lila snapped, "It's all Marinette's fault. I couldn't sleep at all last night."

Alya looked confused. "Marinette's fault? She made you that great cake for your birthday. And she gave you that beautiful hairclip."

Lila just growled in exasperation.

* * *

"I know you're up to something," Lila snarled to a cornered Marinette. "I'm going to make sure you never have any friends and Adrien will be my boyfriend. Just you wait and see."

Marinette didn't answer. She just stood there remembering what Agnes had said, "_By being kind to your enemies, you will heap burning coals on their head._"

After Lila stomped away, Marinette headed to the cafeteria. Sitting at a table by herself, she pulled out some paper and started folding cranes. It didn't take long before she had enough for a necklace. She strung them together and wrote 'May you find what you're looking for' on the largest one serving as a pendant.

When they returned to class after lunch, Marinette approached Lila's desk. "I made this for you, Lila."

Lila snatched it from her hands, smirking like a queen accepting tribute.

Marinette just shrugged and moved to sit down at her desk, pulling out her notebook for the next class.

Adrien entered the classroom talking to Nino. "…have to attend this fashion event this Friday night. He's even talking about have me bring a date. Who knows who he'll deem 'acceptable' as a date for me. Probably some model. It's going to be a long, booooring night no matter what."

Lila lit up. "_I'll have to get Mr. Agreste to make Adrien take me to the event as his date. I'll have to find the perfect dress."_

After school, Lila called Mr. Agreste's office. She said, "Adrien told me that you were insisting that he have a date for the event on Friday. He wants me to be his date."

"I had been toying with the idea of Adrien attending with a date but I had been unable to find anyone suitable," Mr. Agreste replied coldly. "I suppose you will be acceptable. We will see you Friday. Please dress appropriately."

Hanging up the phone, Lila cackled to herself as she pulled up the browser on her computer. It took over an hour, but she finally found the perfect dress for the event. _"The gold and orange swirls with black accents is stunning. It's expensive, but I'll just use mother's credit card. She won't mind."_

The dress didn't arrive until the day of the event and Lila had to hurry to dress and do her hair before Adrien picked her up.

Lila opened the door when she heard the knock. Adrien shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, but Lila didn't notice as he said, "I'm here to take you to the event tonight."

Lila grabbed his arm and hugged it tightly. "We'll have such a good time tonight."

Adrien just rolled his eyes as he escorted her to the car where his bodyguard was holding the door open for them.

Lila preened as they walked the red carpet. "_This is where I'm meant to be—on the arm of a rich, handsome man_," she thought smugly.

"Adrien, over here," yelled one of the photographers

The photographer's assistant tried to pull Lila away from Adrien for a moment so the photographer could get a shot of just him. Indignantly, Lila tried to push the assistant away and maintain her grip on Adrien's arm. Thrown off balance, the assistant clutched Lila's arm for balance and her sleeve tore away.

"What are you doing?" Lila screeched. Before anyone could react, the photographer reached forward to steady his assistant. In his haste, his camera snagged on the skirt of Lila's dress. There was a loud RRRRIIIIPPP and Lila looked down to find a huge tear in the skirt, extending from waist to hem.

Seeing her predicament, Adrien quickly removed his jacket and wrapped it around Lila to preserve her modesty. Urgently he signaled to his bodyguard. "Gorilla, please take Miss Rossi home right away."

Turning to Lila, he said, "I'm sorry I can't accompany you, but Father insists that I be here tonight. I'll see you at school on Monday."

All Lila could do was seethe as she was driven home.

* * *

Lila was in a royal snit at school on Monday because she missed the event. Holding court in the classroom, she said, "There were two Italian designers there that I was supposed to meet with. They've been fighting over which one will have me as the exclusive face of their fashion house."

Glaring at Marinette in the back row, she continued, "It's really all Marinette's fault. She refused to make me a dress, so I had to buy an inferior dress at the last minute." The whole class expressed their sympathies to Lila and scowling at Marinette.

Fuming, Marinette started folding flowers. By the time she finally calmed down, she had a small bouquet. On the largest flower, she wrote 'May you live in interesting times' and placed the bouquet on the desk next to Lila.

"Like some silly paper flowers are going to make up for things," Lila sneered.

Later in Ms. Mendeleiev's class, they were mixing harmless chemicals and recording the reactions that occurred. Most of the class was having fun trying to predict what would happen.

Lila was still dwelling on the missed event, so she wasn't paying attention to what she was doing. Suddenly the chemical mixture started to foam up out of the beaker. As Lila tried to contain the mess, she found that it had stained her hands and clothes red.

Disgusted, Lila cleaned up the mess on the table. Huffing in annoyance, she went to the sink to wash her hands and try to get rid of the red. Standing at the sink, Lila growled in frustration. "I can't this wash off!"

Bemused, Ms. Mendeleiev said, "That's interesting. None of the chemicals I gave you should have created that kind of reaction."

After school, Lila was walking home when she was caught in an akuma attack. Shrieking, the akuma covered her in oozing green slime.

Minutes later Ladybug and Chat Noir defeated the akuma just a few yards from where Lila was standing, still in shock from the attack.

Chat tilted his head, looked at Lila and said, "That's interesting. The akuma sprayed everyone else with water but she slimed Lila. I wonder what Lila did to her."

After the miraculous cure returned everything to normal, Lila trudged the remaining distance home. "_This has been a miserable day_," she muttered to herself.

When she opened the door she was met by her mother. "There was an interesting charge on my credit card. Care to explain?"

Lila just sighed.

* * *

The next day, Marinette arrived early, bringing macaroons for the whole class. For Lila, she had made a special origami box with extra macaroons in it. On the box, Marinette wrote, 'May you live forever.'

Lila arrived late because her mother had given her a long list of chores to do to pay for the dress she had charged on her mother's credit card. As soon as she saw Marinette and the origami box, she exploded. "Okay, so I don't have tinnitus and I didn't save Jagged Stone's kitten. I don't know Spielberg or any famous journalists. I can't introduce anyone to famous people. I told you. I just tell people what they want to hear. I can't believe you're making such a big deal about it. Just because I threatened to turn all your friends against you and take…"

Lila froze, realizing for the first time that the classroom was full and everyone was glaring at her. "Wait, that's not…."

Ms. Bustier interrupted. "Given your admissions, I believe we need to speak to the principal and call your mother." She held the door open as Lila hung her head and walked out of the room.

Adrien walked up to Marinette. "You finally exposed Lila's lies. And you took the high road to do it. Where did you get the idea to trick her into committing social suicide by admitting everything in front of everyone?"

The rest of the class looked sheepish as they remembered how they had treated Marinette because of Lila. Alya stepped up and asked, "Hey, Marinette, can you every forgive us?" Others murmured in agreement.

Marinette crossed her arms, taking in the sight of her much chastened classmates, many who had known her longer than they'd known Lila. "Trust has been broken and it will take time and effort to rebuild. I'm not going to lie. It hurt that none of you would believe me. You know me." She sighed.

"But the lies have been exposed and the truth is out. I was always at a disadvantage because everyone expected me to prove that she didn't save Jagged's kitten or she didn't know Spielberg. You've forgotten what Ms. Mendeleiev always says, 'You can't prove a negative.' Instead of expecting me to do the impossible of proving a negative, you should have asked her to prove what she was saying."

Taking a deep breath, she continued, "All that to say, it will take time to rebuild trust but it is worth the effort."

Alya asked tentatively, "So, where did you get the idea?"

Smiling, Marinette said, "Would you believe It was an email advertisement from an American publisher? I occasionally purchased books about historical fashions from them..."


End file.
